***NEWS RELEASE***

CPDCBriefs at CPAC in Maryland on the Present—and Growing—Danger from China

All Star Team Makes the Case We Are at War and the
CCP is the Enemy

NATIONAL HARBOR, MARYLAND—On Feb. 27, the Committee on the Present Danger: China (CPDC) held the seventh in a series of non-partisan 2020 Policy Battlespace Threat Briefings in key early voting states. The Maryland Briefing took place before a standing-room-only crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord National Harbor Hotel. These programs are aimed at informing presidential candidates, the electorate and state officials about the ominous ambitions of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and—thanks in no small measure to financing from U.S. investors—its growing capabilities to act on them.

This Facebook-livestreamed program featured presentations by a Member of Congress/retired Army brigadier general, a retired three-star Air Force general, one of the country’s preeminent experts on China and two members of the CPDC, They addressed the urgent need for presidential candidates and voters in the state’s upcoming presidential primary on March 3rd to understand the multifaceted and proliferating threats posed by the CCP to this country and the world. Whether those who seek to be our next Commander-in-Chief like it or not, they will have to contend with and counter China’s decades-long “unrestricted warfare.” And those doing the hiring for that position have a need to know that the applicants are up to what is certain to be Job #1 in the national security portfolio, and probably in the economic and public health ones, as well.

As with all of these 2020 Policy Battlespace Threat Briefings, a major feature of the presentation and discussion was the dangerous contribution being made to the present and growing danger from China by individual and institutional U.S. investors —including most state public pension funds. Such investors are, wittingly or unwittingly, underwriting CCP-owned or -affiliated companies engaged in behavior inimical to our vital interests, economic competitiveness and/or national security. The Committee is currently assessing the exposure of Maryland state public employees to non-transparent and material risk-fraught Chinese companies, including some engaged in directly supporting the CCP’s malevolent activities.

The CPDC’s Maryland Briefing team members were:

Frank Gaffney*, former Assistant Secretary of Defense (acting) and Vice Chairman of the Committee on the Present Danger: China. Gaffney addressed the historic role a predecessor Committee on the Present Danger played in helping shape the policy battlespace in the run-up to and during the 1980 election with respect to that time’s existential threat to freedom – the Soviet Union. He described, as well, the mandate that resulted for President Reagan to abandon the policy of engagement then known as “détente” in favor of rolling back the USSR. Gaffney argued that a similar course-correction is needed with respect to our era’s existential threat: the Chinese Communist Party. He also described the dangers associated with American capital markets and investors underwriting the sorts of threats the Briefing subsequently detailed.

Gordon G. Chang, Esq., best-selling author of The Coming Collapse of China and internationally renowned essayist and commentator. Chang described how the Chinese Communist Party views the United States as its enemy and has long waged economic, information and other forms of asymmetric warfare against us. He cited the CCP’s deceptive and malfeasant handling of the coronavirus as emblematic of the true character of the regime in Beijing and a compelling wake-up call for America and the rest of the Free World.

Lt. Gen. Steven Kwast, USAF (Ret.), veteran combat pilot who, until his recent retirement, served as the Commander of the Air Force Education and Training Command, Joint Base San Antonio. Gen. Kwast spoke about the surpassingly high-stakes bipolar struggle over the dominance of space and the electromagnetic spectrum. He contended that the United States has the capacity to win this contest but is perilously close to losing it to Communist China – to the enduring detriment of this nation and the world. He outlined steps needed to ensure we prevail.

Dr. Sean Lin*, a survivor of the Tiananmen Square massacre, executive director of the Global Alliance against Communist Propaganda and Disinformation, a Falun Gong practitioner and an Army veteran and Ph.D. microbiologist who previously directed a viral disease laboratory at Walter Reed. Dr. Lin shared his personal experience with the CCP’s brutal repression of its own people – and most especially its faith communities like his. He described the horrific techniques the Party uses to profit from such persecution – including through industrial-scale organ harvesting, mass incarceration and slave labor.

Brigadier General Scott Perry, U.S. Army National Guard (Ret.), represents the 10th Congressional District of Pennsylvania and serves on the House Committees on Foreign Affairs and Transportation and Infrastructure. Rep. Perry warned of the cumulative effect of the CCP’s theft of intellectual property, technology advances, military build-up, colonial expansion and digital imperialism. He also recommended specific actions the United States must take in response.

*Member,Committee on the Present Danger: China

The seventh CPDC 2020 Battlespace Threat Briefing took place later in the day in Virginia (and is the subject of a separate press release). The eighth will occur in Los Angeles on March 1. Additional briefings in other key states will be announced shortly.

Video of the CPDC’s Maryland Threat Briefing will be accessible at www.PresentDangerChina.org, as are the previous CPDC programs and a wealth of other information about the present and growing danger from China.